Bringing the Drama

So the full lineup for the ACL Fest came out today and I actually looked into taking a train, because looking on a map the Amtrak station was near where the festival is. Austin is one state over, I figured, it might take half a day or something, right? WRONG! This is the actual route the Amtrak webpage spit out: Slidell to DC to Chicago to Austin. THIS TRIP WOULD TAKE THREE DAYS! I think settlers in the 1800s could make this trip in a shorter amount of time! The US needs a better passenger rail system.

Three of the main headliners were huge to me in 1998, while KOL was not even a glint in my eye. Would I love to go relive 1998 in October? Yes please. The rest of the lineup is just packed with bands I’ve either seen before and loved (Decemberists, Felice Bros.) and bands I have not seen but really want to (Andrew Bird). The lineups at ACL have always looked good to me, but I’ve never been able to go for one reason or another. Hopefully this year will be different.

There are some sports stories you love being a part of. When your really terrible basketball team upsets the #1 team and you get to rush the court, that’s something you cherish being a part of. When your football team finally knocks off their archenemy at home when that team is #3, that’s something you love being a part of. When your football team returns to their home stadium a year after natural disaster that effected everyone in the metro area, that’s something you will never ever forget. When your basketball team completely quits on a home game in the playoffs, and goes on to lose by the biggest margin in NBA playoff history, that’s something you are embarrassed to be a part of.

Before the Hornets game yesterday, I told people I wouldn’t mind them losing, because they’ve been banged up and just haven’t shown much effort in the playoffs. Plus, if they lose the series in 5, I wouldn’t be spending more than $100 on playoff tickets. I thought going into last night that the Hornets would stay close or lead for the first 3 quarters, then just run out of gas in the 4th. I had no idea the plan was to take a 2-0 lead then just give up. I got to the arena about 6:40 and had to wait in a ridiculous long line for the free beer in the season ticket area. Jacob was meeting me at the game but was coming later, so I left his ticket at will call. I finally got my beer, but the tap was running out, so I had more foam than normal. I walked into the arena and the program had David West on the cover. Combined with the foamy beer, I thought the DW cover was a bad sign. I ate my turkey sandwich and headed upstairs to my seat. I bought a $9 beer (Abita Amber at least) because I thought I’d rather not have the foamy beers be the last beer memory of the season. I went up to my seat and settled in for what I hoped would be a hard fought game.

After the 2-0 lead, everything fell apart. I haven’t been a fan of David West since I started going to games and watching him play. He plays lazy defense and jogs a lot. I think he may also be allergic to offensive rebounds. I saw him give up at least 10 points in the first half, but I’m sure there was a lot more. He wasn’t rotating over when people would drive to the basket and he would fuss at teammates when they gave up a basket. Hello pot, this is kettle! I had called my mom earlier in the night to tell her the game wasn’t on TV and offer an alternative, but she said she was planning on watching 24 and would see about catching the game after seeing the score. After the first quarter, the Hornets were down 21. I texted her this and her response was “Damn”. My mom doesn’t curse very often. Jacob got there sometime in the 2nd quarter and by the end of the 2nd quarter the score was 61-39.

I was texting with a friend about the game and how in the 3rd quarter they should just start jacking up 3s. Unfortunately, the Hornets chose to run their same offense with passing the ball to David West in the post and hoping he doesn’t turn it over. Bad plan. The defense was awful again, and the 3rd quarter resulted in the Hornets being down 38 points by the end of it. I had fun yelling “SHOOT IT!” when Chris Paul would cross half court. Why not? It wasn’t like anything else was working! Also at the end of the 3rd quarter the majority of the crowd started leaving. Jacob and I left with 9 minutes or so left in the game, so pretty early in the 4th. I usually stay until the end of a game no matter what, but I could not stomach a team giving up. On the way out walking past the Dome, I tore the front cover off my program and said “he’s supposed to be an All Star? What a bunch of garbage!” Then I threw it away.

On my way home I stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things, and almost was hoping no one would ask me if I went to the game. I was embarrassed to have paid money to see such a terrible display. I know some people want to blame the coach, but at some point, as a person you have to be motivated not to embarrass yourself, your family, your school, and your fans. If you hate the coach, don’t take it out on the fans. If you hate management, don’t take it out on the fans. The fans are paying their hard earned money to come watch you play, at least have the decency to give effort to show them you’re trying.

My favorite NBA writer on ESPN is John Hollinger, and he was the one that wrote the article about the game this morning for the daily NBA info page. I completely agree with him. It was the most sorry performance by a professional team I’ve ever seen. Losing by double digits is one thing, losing by FIFTY EIGHT at home in a playoff game is nothing less than shameful.

the word to describe life the past week has been frazzled. i had grad school hw to get done for Thursday when for the past two weeks i thought i had until the next Tuesday. it just seemed like a lot of things were happening and i was trying desperately to keep up, and it wasn’t helping that i was working 2.5 hours OT on Monday and then getting home late on Tuesday or going to an LSU baseball game with my parents on Wednesday. i needed more hours in the day. that’s where a football jersey comes in to calm things down.

you may recall that i burned my Joe Horn jersey two years ago before the start of the 2007 season. i have gone the last two years without a Saints jersey, but have been wanting to get a jersey of linebacker Scott Fujita, who in addition to being a good player, also likes Kings of Leon. i know this because at the show i attended during the summer of 2007 i saw him go upstairs to the high roller room at the HOB with a couple of his friends. i used to have the text message i sent to my friend Ryan about this sighting saved on my phone, but then my phone died. anyway, the problem with getting the Fujita jersey is they only made the white jersey in the authentic version, which costs $250. there was no way i was going to spend that kind of money on a jersey.

then Wednesday morning i check a Saints message board and someone posted about a shop in Metairie having a sale the week of the draft and all the authentic jerseys were $100. even at $100 i think it’s expensive for a jersey, but it’s one i’ve wanted for so long and i had just gotten my tax refund deposited. before the LSU game, we stopped by the shop and i tried on a jersey and it fit. it is awesome. it has sewn on everything, so much better than the screen printed numbers that my other jersey had. i am SO EXCITED about it. Thursday morning before leaving for work i touched it as i walked by it hanging up. it is mine. now i have to hope he doesn’t have a mediocre season and refuse a paycut resulting in him signing with the Falcons.

today was kind of crazy. i had a crazy dream last night, so when i woke up i wrote down the highlights. i have two dreams written down, neither of which make any sense to the previous days or related to eating anything the day before. at least last night’s did not involve petty theft and evading law enforcement like the last one did. i got to work a bit earlier than normal and was going to be able to leave at 5:15. i’ve kind of been on a wild goose chase at work to chase down a status on something that really hasn’t changed, but the managers want to know a new and fresh answer. all that drama seemed to be calmed this afternoon when at 4:45 i get a call from my analysis lead that he needs some data from me from stuff i had last worked on 3 months ago and he needs it for early tomorrow morning. by the time i had figured out exactly what i was supposed to do, the people i normally ask for help were gone, including my analysis lead. fortunately one of the analysis guys was there and he was able to help me out by listening me talk out my rationale and helped me get what i needed to do straightened out. after a little trial and error, i walked out at 7:45, 2.5 hours after i was supposed to leave.

on my way home i thought i’d stop at the Quizno’s near my house thinking they stayed open till 9. i called my sister to see if she could call for me. she called me back and said they normally stay open till 9 but tonight was different and they were closing early. i told her in so many words that they had nothing more important to be doing than to feed me after i worked 2.5 hours OT. foiled by Quizno’s closing early, i went to Subway who were staying open till 9 and got a $5 foot long. i quickly devoured the sandwich, caught the very end of the Celtics/Bulls game, and ended the evening by catching a DMB concert on tv. (it’s from a dvd i have but still….)

With last Sunday being Easter and all, I must tell you about what made me appreciate celebrating Easter this year. After I got home from the race on Saturday, I was flipping through the channels and came across a movie. It had David Schwimmer and John Krasinski in it, at the same time, during the scene that was playing when I turned to the channel. They almost had a fist fight! I kept watching as the weirdness of Ross and Jim fighting would be too much to miss. Apparently the situation involved Ross’ ex wife now dating Jim, and how that caused drama since there were two daughters from the first marriage. I kept watching though, because it was weird to see these actors I have normally seen in comedies playing out in a drama. True, you don’t really have to go too far to find a depressing Ross because I thought he played a great non Ross character in Band of Brothers, but Jim was kind of a douche. Also, the guy from 30 Rock who wears all the hats was DS’s friend in the movie who played a wannabe comedian at the casino where they worked. I’m telling you, it was like watching multiple fish out of water, and it was fascinating. However, the movie was kind of depressing. DS’ character had just about everything go wrong in his life. He lost his marriage (I think he abused her, but I missed the first part of the movie), he took up drugs and drinking, then he lost his job because of the drugs. It was terrible. His little speech in a courtroom where he was going to have his kids’ visitation rights revoked made me realize how important having God was. It was like watching the story of Job play out without God. He admitted in the courtroom scene that without his daughters, he wouldn’t have a reason to live. Ugh. By the end of the movie somehow he had gotten over some of his problems and learned to appreciate the people that were in his life, in spite of everything going on around him. So I guess the story had a happy ending, but it didn’t feel all that happy. (the movie is called Duane Hopwood if you ever want to check it out)

I love Easter, I really do. It’s exciting. Jesus conquering death, getting dressed up to go to church, pastel M&Ms, etc. I ended up going to mass instead of service at my home church because my dad and i were going to the Hornets game that was supposed to start at 12. The mass didn’t seem any different than a normal mass, which was disappointing. It’s Easter for crying out loud! The one day out of the year that everything in Christianity is based on, and the priest just seemed to be going through the motions. I also sat next to an older lady with dark red hair who was excited when Jesus was projected on the screen.

After church, my dad and I went to the Hornets game, where they dominated the Mavs again. That afternoon, my family and I went out for Easter dinner. I got to try out some things for the first time including grilled oysters and Baked Alaska. Strangely enough, the waiter had BO, which made it a little uncomfortable. Plus we were the only people in the entire restaurant, so it was a little strange because of that too. At one point I was laughing about something and he had a plate for me so he said “take a deep breath” to which I wanted to respond “I’d rather not!” , but I didn’t. The food was great in spite of the extremely odd circumstances surrounding it. The chef even came out and we heard his life story about growing up poor in France then coming to the US by way of Canada. We didn’t hear about how he ended up in the NOLA area, but by the time he got to the part of how he got to the US, we didn’t really care anymore.

I got home in time to watch the sudden death playoff in the Masters, a perfect ending to the day. It felt like multiple days rolled into one with such a wide range of things happening, but it was a fantastic day.

Today was the big Crescent City Classic. Like usual, I parked in Lakeview and walked over to the park to catch the shuttle. One thing I noticed today was how different everything looked from 2006 when almost every house was vacant, and now almost every house is back to normal. I walked up to see the shuttle bus pulling away for the 2nd year in a row, but also for the 2nd year in a row a bus showed up after 7:30. Last year I pretty much did the race anonymously, because no one I knew was on the bus or at the company tent after the race. This year though I knew a few people, including my friend Mike and his wife, Meredith.

We made it down to the Quarter to start the race and I noticed who I was determined to beat. I had a list when the race started, beat the guy dressed as the fleur-di-lis, the guy dressed as the bear, the soldiers carrying packs, and the runaway prisoners. The soldiers were for real, but we’re not sure what they had in their packs. Anyway, so the race starts (I’m in this picture somewhere I think) and again walkers had sneaked up to the front and are walking 4 and 5 wide. I hate that, it’s like people that just coast in the far left lane because they can and have no care for anyone else. I didn’t curse or anything, so I felt proud of myself for that. Really though, the 10 year olds pulling a cooler of root beer need to start further back. When we ran past the murder scene, nobody said anything, I wonder if people knew. I DID!

I think the magic distance for people who think they can run is about 2 miles. Once we hit 2 miles a lot of people started walking. Going down Esplanade was nice because it was so shady. I didn’t see the people giving out hot dogs this year but apparently there were mimosas along the route. I missed those! I got in sight of the finish line and was going to sprint as far as I could. As I’m starting to sprint, Troy from the youth group comes up behind me and pats me on the back and says “good race!” I then said “You better run faster cause it’ll be embarrassing when I beat you!” Then he completely left me and became a dot rather quickly. I crossed the finish line in 60:30. not bad for not having run longer than 4 miles since November and really not running regularly in the past couple of months. I might have broken an hour if it weren’t for the slow first mile or so because of the walkers/slow people.

The after party thing was kind of cool. I got some free G (that’s what they’re calling Gatorade now) and my shirt. I was trying to find the company tent and I saw a guy who looked like Sean Payton. I wasn’t sure though, but then as I walked away I realized it was. Too bad, I could have told him i beat him too! None of those people I mentioned earlier passed me, another goal accomplished. The company tent ended up being behind the Abita truck, so I got a couple of free beers since there was no line. That’s a good reward for finishing early, easy access to beer. I got it mainly cause it was free and I was standing there, but it tasted SO GOOD! I think I may have changed my stance on post race beer. Shortly after I got my beer, lines formed. Score one for me.

The company tent was cool, and I stayed longer than I did last year. I guess having people to talk to changes things up. I ate more food this year too, so I definitely got my $10 worth. I walked back to my car and made it home in time to catch the 2nd half of a soccer game. Awesome.

This past week/weekend was fantastic. and as much as i want to talk about all that, this story needs it’s own post. While at dinner on Saturday with my parents for my birthday, my dad told me my uncle had called him. they haven’t talked in 3.5 years, and it’s been something i’ve struggled with being in the middle of. i’m the only one out of my intermediate family that my uncle or grandfather will talk to, at least until last week. he told me that my uncle had called to say my grandfather wanted to give my dad his Jeep since he doesn’t drive it anymore. the conversation wasn’t major or anything, but it was something. like a crack in the dam. i told him that it had been a year since i stood in Notre Dame cathedral and lit a votive candle just for the relationship between my dad and my uncle and grandfather. (i had remembered this because earlier in the day i was watching that show Cities of the Underground, and they were in Naples going underneath of a church, so i remembered being in Notre Dame.) I can’t expect things to go back to normal overnight, but at least there’s hope.

last night i spent the evening doing hw. i had gotten the main problem done on monday night, but still had a 2nd problem to do for tuesday. at lunch i went to work on the problem only to find out the professor didn’t really go over the process to figure out the problem in class, and i’d need my book…..which was at home. i faxed off the one problem and planned to fax the 2nd the early this morning. i got home and cracked open my book for the first time, maybe all semester and found the section he referenced. i figured out the problem after about an hour, so the hw was done.

after a quick run to the store, i settled in to watch the Hornets/Kings game, and saw as they had this ridiculously long ceremony at halftime to honor Vlade Divac. (i know, right, Vlade Divac?) they really did it up, complete with a video and children bringing the banner down from the stands to really dramatic music. i used to love watching those Kings teams, too bad they never could get past the Lakers. oh, and the Hornets won on a last second shot, which i didn’t see, but have now seen 5 times already.

i still have that test i need to take tomorrow, but fortunately the prof went over what would be on it in one of the class videos i watched, and i THINK it won’t be as bad as i feared. i may still reschedule tonight’s plans for next week though so i can study. i mean, yeah, it’d be nice to go tonight, but it’d also be nice to get reimbursed for my class too (which may not happen if i bomb the test). stupid priorities.

in my email this morning i got this birthday card. today’s starting off on the right foot! (i think she got my email from when i submitted an app for free tickets to the show last fall, but then i got a bunch of calls from a telemarketer….et tu kelly?)

1 – full up Sunday (ss, lunch with ss peeps, youth group)
2 – went to the gym, even though i was tired, new record for burnout pull-ups
3 – watched Clemson win on senior night
4 – found out about a dinner club in NOLA
5 – my friend Whitney was able to snag me a High Life delivery shirt; Ryan Adams in Baton Rouge!
6 – Ryan Adams in Birmingham!
7 – bum around Birmingham with a friend in the gorgeous weather
8 – lunch at Panera, french toast bagels!; fun dinner at the parents hearing about my sister’s wild escapade in NOLA on the 7th
9 – i forgot how much i love daylight savings time
10 – presentation at work went great and i sounded like i knew what i was talking about
11 – had a good talk with one of my managers (might be able to get promoted!)
12 – Ten Out Of Tenn was great!; got a letter saying my property taxes were being reduced!
13 – wedding rehearsal dinner meal was fantastic, as were the toasts; hang out time post dinner with friends
14 – lunch at the brew pub, wedding and reception were fun, dancing to the Cupid Shuffle, great after party
15 – relaxing downtime post wedding
16 – got to hang out with my friend Len
17 – wii fit yoga!
18 – Hornets game with my mom (and they won!)
19 – was able to sit with someone i knew for RA in Mobile
20 – RA in ATL qualified as a ‘last’ show
21 – dinner at Taco Mac!
22 – lunch at Panera before leaving Birmingham (french toast bagel!)
23 – ran outside in the gorgeous weather; good dinner with a friend
24 – dinner with SS peeps
25 – hang out time with my friend Brandon
26 – email jokes about woot off helped the day go by faster
27 – bought a pair of woot off siren lights
28 – met up with friends to go to a play another friend was in
29 – Hornets game with my friend Zach…..and they beat the Spurs!
30 – actually got to watch HIMYM when it came on instead of having to watch on the computer
31 – finished hw early and had time to get other things done; nice walmart cashier let me move to her line when i was stuck in a line that was not moving